Susan Winsor

Before joining Corn and Soybean Digest, Susan was an agricultural magazine editor for Miller Publishing, a newspaper reporter for Gannett newspapers and Manager, Marketing Publications for Cenex/Land O’Lakes Ag Services. She graduated from Colorado State University with a Bachelor of Science degree in Agricultural Journalism.

Articles

“Some cold, wet spring days like today, you wonder whether the (corn) seed is better off in the bag or in the field,” says Emerson Nafziger, University of Illinois Agronomist. Wet soils and cold weather have disrupted corn planting across large parts of the Upper Midwest and all of Iowa.

Would you believe that the corn ears from plants emerging on Day 1 would be 13% fatter than the corn ears from Day-2-emerged corn? That’s exactly what played out at Watson Farms, Villa Grove, Ill., last year on a test of a 40-ft. section of one row. You could say the Watsons’ corn stood the test of time.

Women own a great deal of U.S. farmland, and one national women’s sustainable farming group aims to help these landowners learn more. Women, Food and Agriculture, a national community of women involved in sustainable agriculture, provides the information and confidence they need to take action and work with tenants to improve soil and water conservation on their farmland.

Cool soil in most of the Corn Belt means a low risk of nitrogen loss for now, says Emerson Nafziger, University of Illinois Crop Sciences professor. Advising farmers on best nitrogen practices for this spring, Nafziger offers these observations and pointers.

It’s official now: some major Corn Belt states’ corn and soybean planting weather windows have officially shrunk. Purdue Professor Ben Gramig found that Illinois and Iowa have on average 11-12% fewer hours per week to plant, when comparing 1980-1994 to 1995-2010.

Count on half the revenue this year and next compared to 2011-12, advises a leading farm management expert. Gary Schnitkey, University of Illinois Extension farm management economist, lays out a variety of $4-4.50 corn price and $11-11.10 soybean price scenarios to guide your decisions.

Similar in concept to previous Delta Institute carbon-offset trading that rewarded landowners for sequestering carbon in plants and trees, the new Delta Nitrogen Credit Program will pay qualified Corn Belt corn farmers who reduce their documented N rates. These credits will be purchased by The Climate Trust.

CSD Managing Editor Susan Winsor found farmers harvesting corn in Washington and Dakota counties in Minnesota late last week. Farmers made great harvest progress in the last week, closing in on average harvest pace. Looks like this was a beautiful evening to be harvesting corn!